Choreography

In addition to process models, the BPMN spec also defines notation for choreography models. Unlike a process model, which defines the internal activity flow within a process, choreography models focus exclusively on the interactions between processes in the form of messages.

The figure above illustrates a choreography diagram, in which the rounded rectangles, called Choreography Activities, specify the actors in each as participant bands and the messages sent and received. Collections of messages between participant bands can be aggregated as conversations and summarized in conversation diagrams such as the one below:

Choreography and conversations are rarely used and are not supported by Workflow Modeler automation. However, the shapes used in these diagrams are available to modelers through the "BPMN (Advanced)" Shapes palette.